New Delhi: Congress stalwart and former Union Minister A.K. Antony Thursday condemned his son Anil Antony’s decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. “The decision of Anil to join BJP really hurt me. It’s a completely wrong move”, A.K. Antony told reporters in Kerala, hours after his son made the move.
Anil joined the BJP Thursday.
He was inducted into the party by Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Kerala BJP chief, K. Surendran at the BJP headquarters here.
#WATCH | Congress leader & former Defence minister AK Antony's son, Anil Antony joins BJP in Delhi pic.twitter.com/qJYBe40xuY
— ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2023
“Every Congress worker believes they are working for a family,” Anil told reporters after his induction adding that he had believed he was working for the Congress. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a very clear vision of putting India in a leading place in a multi-polar world,” he added.
Anil had resigned from all Congress posts in January after he was reportedly targeted over a tweet critical of the BBC’s two-part documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was the state’s chief minister.
Despite large differences with BJP, I think those in 🇮🇳 placing views of BBC, a 🇬🇧 state sponsored channel with a long history of 🇮🇳 prejudices,and of Jack Straw, the brain behind the Iraq war, over 🇮🇳 institutions is setting a dangerous precedence,will undermine our sovereignty.
— Anil K Antony (@anilkantony) January 24, 2023
In his resignation letter, Anil had said that the Gandhis are “only keen to work with a bunch of sycophants and chamchas” who would “unquestionably” be at their “beck and call”.
“This (sycophancy) has become the lone criterion of merit. Sadly, we don’t have much common ground”, he’d written in his resignation letter.
However, at the time, Anil had said that he’d only quit his party posts and the Congress. In an interview to ThePrint at the time, he’d said that he was “very much a Congressman.” He’d also said that none of his decisions would affect his father’s political legacy.
Reiterating a stance outlined by his father earlier, Anil had also said that the Congress would not come back to power in Delhi if it doesn’t bring the majority Hindu community into its folds.
Anil, who identifies as a tech entrepreneur, joined active politics in 2019 when he was made the Congress’ digital media cell convenor in Kerala under Shashi Tharoor.
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